Cloth texturing apparatus



Nov. 11, 1952 D. E. MULHOLLARID 2,617,170

CLOTH TEXTURING APPARATUS Filed May 17, 1950 2 SHEETSSHEET l IN VENTOR oI /7/ V BY f 1 *3 HIS ATTORNEY NOV. 11, 1952 D, MULHOLLAND 2,617,170

/ CLOTH TEXTURING APPARATUS Filed May 17, 1950 2 SHEETS-SHEE'1' 2 INVENTOR HIS ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 11, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE1:5 Claims. (CI. 26-28) This invention relates to cloth texturingapparatus and has as its primary object the provision of improvedapparatus for texturing cloth uniformly and as a continuous process.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved apparatus fortexturing cloth wherein the degree of texturing can be controlled withextreme accuracy.

An additional object of the invention is to provide improved apparatusfor texturing cloth in continuous sheet form wherein the tension on thecloth is controlled throughout its path of travel, enabling the cloth tobe textured uniformly.

A further object of the invention is to provide improved apparatus fortexturing cloth in continuous sheet form wherein the cloth is maintainedunder longitudinal and transverse tension, whereby the cloth ispresented as a smooth, unwrinkled sheet to both the texturing apparatusand the final wind-up roll.

Another object of the invention is to provide in cloth texturingapparatus means for varying the extent of wrap of the cloth about aback-up roll, thereby to determine the driving engagement of the back-uproll with the cloth and eliminate any wrinkles in said cloth beforepresentation thereof to a texturing roll.

A further object of the invention is to provide cloth texturingapparatus having improved means for cooling the texturing device wherebythe rate of texturing is inherently increased without detriment to thetexturing.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter inthe detailed description, be particularly pointedout in the appendedclaims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic view in side elevation of a preferred embodimentof the cloth texturing apparatus of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary isometric view of the texturing and back-uprolls of Figure 1, showing the details of the improved coolingapparatus; and

Figure 3 is a schematic front elevational view of the cloth-steeringroll of Figure 1.

Referring now in detail to the drawings in which like referencecharacters designate like parts, the improved texturing apparatus of thepresent invention in its illustrated embodiment is particularly adaptedto texture cloth and other organic material, hereinafter termedgenerally cloth. The apparatus is comprised generally of a feed roll Iand a take up roll 2, marking the ends of the path of travel of thecloth through" the apparatus, and texturing meansintermediate these endsby which the cloth is sueded or other-' wise textured during its travel.

The unfinished cloth is introduced into the apparatus from the unwind orfeed roll 1 which is preferably driven at a uniform linear speed. Forthis purpose, the roll of unfinished cloth'may be supported on a pair ofspaced drive rolls 3 driven from a source of power (not shown withthe'spindle '4 of the unwind roll slidably guided such that theperiphery of the roll will float on and drivably contact the drivingrolls. In this manner, it is possible by controlling the drive of thedrive rolls, to feed the cloth into the apparatus at a constant linearspeed regardless of the amount of the material on the unwind roll. To"

prevent overrunning of the unwind roll, there is provided a frictionbrake 5 in the form of a guiders 9 of the conventional type whichengagethe opposite edges of the cloth and spread it laterally ortransversely. After passing under a second idler roll ill, the clothpasses over one or more spiral spreaders ll having the usual opposedhelical ribbed surfaces by which the cloth is spread outwardly on eitherside of its longitudinal center line. The cloth then passes over one ormore rubber covered, driven nip rolls 12 which afford an intermediatedrive for the cloth While the swinging guiders and spiral spreaderstogether tend to maintain the cloth centered. such centering is assuredby leading the cloth beyond the nip rolls l2 over a steering roll [3which, as shown in Figure 3, is tiltable on its axle l4. By tilting thisroll towardone side or the other under suitable manual orvautomaticcontrols, by which both the direction and extent of the tilting can bevaried as necessary, the steer ing roll is enabled to drive the clothtoward either side to maintain it centered laterallyrelative to its pathof travel.

Beyond the steering roll, the cloth enters the texturing portion of theapparatus wherein it is carried or supported on a billy, back-up orsupporting roll 15 having a yieldable cloth-engaging surface l6 of softrubber or like material. The billy roll is the principal cloth-drivingmeans of the apparatus, to the peripheral speed of which the speeds ofall other cloth-driving devices are correlated. Opposing the billy rollis a texturing or work roll l! between which rolls the cloth passes andis textured. The texturing roll preferably acts on the cloth in thedirection of movement or travel of the latter and, therefore, mustrotate at a higher speed than the billy roll to be effective. For mostefiicient action, it is necessary that there be no slippage of the clothrelative to the billy roll as it undergoes treatment and that allwrinkles be removed from the cloth before it is treated.

To the above ends, the billy roll it is provided with the aforementionedrelatively soft rubber peripheral layer IE, not only to accommodate anyvariations in thickness of the cloth and thus present a level surface tothe texturing roll, but to afford greater adhesion or adherence with thecloth than that obtained by the texturing surface of the texturing roll.However, in practice ithas beenfound that thisdiiference in adhesion,alone, is inadequate, unless the circumferential area or are over whichit acts on the billy roll is also carefully controlled. Accordingly,between the steering roll it and the billy roll, the cloth is caused totravel over a grip or drive-control roll [-8, whereby the wrapof thecloth about the hilly roll, and-thereby the extent of the frictionalengagement therebetween, can be adjusted or varied within limits foundto be critical. As indicated in Figure l, the critical limits of thewrap of the cloth about the billy roll are from a minimum of about 200to a maximum of about 270 of the total circumference of the roll,depending upon the-character of the cloth. Variation of the extent ofthe wrap between these limits to suit the particular cloth may beobtained by suitably journaling or mounting the ends of the shaft M ofthe control roll so that it can be adjusted over an arcuate or otherpath by which it can determine the point of'the initial engagement ofthe clothwith the billy roll relative to the zone in which the cloth istextured, and thus the extent of the total wrap. With the texturing rollrotating at aperipheral speed of as much as 1500 feet per minute and thecloth travelling at a maximum linear speed of about 90 feet per minute,as is possible with the type of cooling hereinafter described, it willbe evident that the texturing roll will exert a considerable pull on thecloth. This pull is opposed by the adhesion between .the cloth and thebilly roll developed by the wrap, coupled with the drag applied to thecloth by the brake 5 on the unwind roll. While the wrap and character ofthe surface of the billy roll would enable the latter to control thespeed of travel-of the cloth, the addition of the forces of thetexturing roll and the brake effectively removes any wrinkles in thecloth in its passage over the billy roll in advance of its engagementwith the texturing roll.

Inthe past it has been the practice to suede or otherwise textureclothby a texturing roll utilizing as its texturing medium a sandpaper orlike sleeve, in which a single thickness of abrasive grains is bonded toa paper or other backing. While satisfactory for relatively rough worksuch as knitted materials, this texturing medium is unsuitable fortexturing relatively sheer materials and cannot texture any materialswith exact uniformity because of the unevenness of the projection of theabrasive grains forming its texturing surface and the impossibility oftruing such surfaces without destroying them.

truly cylindrical by rotating the roll while passing a diamond pointacross its peripheral surface at a fixed radial distance from its axis.

Since trueness of the surface of the texturin layer iiirof the texturingroll, alone, would render the action upon the cloth subject tovariations in the'surface of the rubber layer 16 of the billy roll, itis necessary that the latter also be true and that the surfaces of thetwo rolls rotate about axes which are maintained in absoluteparallelism. In both respects, the preferred structure is similar tothat of my aforementioned patent, the

- billy roll being ground true by the texturing roll and both rollsbeing journaled in precision bearings. As in the patent, the texturingroll is mounted on a fixed axis and the hilly roll is floatingly mountedon pivots sufilciently removed from its axis of rotation that the pathof reciprocable movement of the billy roll relative to the texturingroll, for practical purposes, will always be a straight line normal to atangent to the texturing roll, drawn at the midpoint of contact of thelatter with the cloth. Similarly, diaphragms or like finely adjustablefluid pressure means are employed for controlling through the billy rollthe pressure applied to the cloth by which the depth of cut or extent oftexturing by the texturing roll is determined. With this construction,it is possible to apply pressure of over 2000 pounds per square inch andto accurately control the depth of cut down to a millionth of an inch,enabling cloth of any fineness to be textured uniformly.

In texturing, the friction between the texturlng roll and the clothgenerates heat which, if not dissipated, is sufficient both to damagethe cloth undergoing treatment by fusing or melting its fibers and tosoften the normally hard rubber of the texturing layer I9 such that itssurface sags out of cylindrical and by deterioration of the bond on itsabrasive particles, ultimately disintegrates. A liquid would obviouslynot be a satisfactory coolant, since it would damage the cloth. Air orthe like gaseous coolant is, therefore, required. However, if the air ispermitted to expand freely, its contained moisture will condense anddeposit on the texturin roll, spotting the cloth and matting its nap.Accordingly, an important aspect of the present invention is the meansby which the texturing roll is adequately cooled and enabled to maintainthe uniformity of its texturing at a relatively high speed. For thispurpose, there is utilized the cooling device shown in Figure 2 in whichthe texturing roll is partially enclosed in a hood 2%. As shown, thishood is closed at both ends, with the end closure members 2! approachingas closely as possible the periphery of the roll. Intermediate theseends, the somewhat U-shaped body portion 22 of the hood is spacedradially outwardly of the periphery of the roll to provide an enclosedspace 23 of considerable extent therebetween. In the illustratedembodiment, the body 22 of the hood encompasses or encloses considerablyin excess of 180 of the periphery of the roll and is sealed at itsleading and trailing edges by inturned flanges 24, which also approachthe periphery of the roll as closely as possible. At its leading edge25, the hood extends slightly below the lower extremity of the roll soas to cool the roll immediately prior to contact of its surface with thecloth, in the manner hereinafter to be described. The trailing edge 26of the hood terminates intermediate the upper and lower extremities ofthe roll so as to afford adequate clearance from the cloth and space forother portions of the cooling device. The hood is connected through itsupper portion to a suitable source of suction or subatmosphericpressure, through a suction exhaust 27.

For cooling the texturing roll, there are mounted on either side of thecloth-texturing zone a set of jets 28 for applying air or other gaseouscoolant to the roll. In the form shown, these jets are spaced holes oropenings in a pair of pipes, one, 20, enclosed within the hood 20adjacent its leading edge 25 and the other, 30, exterior of the hood.These pipes extend substantially the full length of the roll so as tocool its surface and preferably include in the cooling zone between themsome 300 of the circumference of the roll. It has been found that if thegas issuing from the jets impinges directly upon the roll, each jet willproduce a corresponding ribbon or strip in the texture of the cloth.Consequently, the jets 28 of both pipes are directed, not at the roll,but against deflectors or baffle plates 3! by which the air or other gasis diffused before contacting the surface of the roll. While undercertain circumstances it might be necessary to inject chilled orrefrigerated gas into the hood to cool the texturing roll, compressedair normally will be adequate, its rapid expansion as it leaves theholes 28 reducing the temperature of the boundary air layer about theroll sufficiently for effective cooling under normal circumstances.However, such cooling by expansion not only dissipates the heat of theroll, but would normally cause condensation of moisture from thesurrounding air with consequent detriment to the action of the roll.This is avoided by the aforementioned suction by which the pressurewithin the hood is reduced sufiiciently to maintain any moisture fromthe pipe 29 in the vapor state and to vaporize any condensate depositedon the roll by the exterior pipe 30. A further advantage of the use ofsuction is that it permits the air released within the hood by theleading pipe 29 to expand relatively rapidly, thereby further reducingits temperature and more effectively cooling the texturing roll.

After being textured as it passes between the texturing and billy rolls,l1 and I5, the cloth is led between a second set of swinging guiders 32,by which its edges are spread so as to present a smooth surface to thenext element of the apparatus, a rotary cloth brush 33 enclosed within asuction hood 3%, by which the textured surface is cleaned of linters andother loose particles. This cloth brush is followed by a set of niprolls 35, between which the cloth passes, the cloth next passing arounda pair of direction-changing idler rolls 38. Thereafter, the cloth ispreferably led over an expander roll 31 having a flexible shaft 38, bywhich the roll can be bowed as necessary to spread the cloth laterally,the cloth then finally being wound on the wind-up or take-up roll 2. Tomaintain the cloth under tension between the texturing zone and thewind-up roll 6'1 and thus avoid any slack at the texturing zone, thereis interposed between the idler rolls 36 and the expander roll 31 afloating or gravity roll 39 which is freely movable vertically, and

- by which any slack in the cloth is automatically taken up.

With the friction brake 5, the floating roll 39 and the control roll l8maintaining the cloth under longitudinal tension between the unwind rolland take-up roll, I and 2, the swinging uiders, 9 and 32, and the spiralspreaders ll tensioning it laterally, and the steering roll I3 centeringit in the texturing zone, the cloth is presented in smooth, unwrinkledform both for texturing and ultimate wind-up. "By utilizing alsotexturing and billy rolls, l1 and 15, of the character described andeffectively .dissipating any heat generated by the texturing roll by thedescribed cooling device, the apparatus of the present invention is madecapable of texturing cloth at linear speeds up to about feet per minuteand of making continuous runs of as much as 30,000 yards of cloth of aparticular type, with assurance that the last yard will be textured asuniformly as the first.

From the above detailed description, it will be apparent that there hasbeen provided an improved cloth texturing apparatus which is adapted totexture cloth uniformly and is effective alike on heavy and sheermaterials. It should be understood that the described and disclosedembodiment is merely exemplary of the invention and that allmodifications are intended to be included which do not depart eitherfrom the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. Cloth texturin apparatus comprising feed, back-up and take-up rollsarranged to support cloth in sequence, texturing means associated withsaid back-up roll for texturing cloth supported thereon, adjustablemeans for varying the extent of wrap of said cloth around said backuproll, and tensioning means associated with said feed and take-up rollsand coacting with said adjustable means for maintaining said cloth undertension throughout the path of travel thereof.

2. Cloth texturing apparatus comprising feed, back-up and take-up rollsarranged to support cloth in sequence, a texturing roll associated withsaid back-up roll for texturing cloth supported thereon, gaseous meansfor cooling said texturing roll, adjustable means for varying the extentof wrap of said cloth around said back-up roll, and tensioning meansassociated with said feed and take-up rolls and coacting with saidadjustable means for maintaining said cloth under tension throughout thepath of travel thereof.

3. Cloth texturing apparatus comprising feed, back-up and take-up rollsarranged to support cloth in sequence, a texturing roll associated withsaid back-up roll for texturing cloth supported thereon, gas expansionmeans for cooling said texturing roll, suction means associated withsaid gas expansion means for removing moisture therefrom, texturingmeans associated with said back-up roll for texturin cloth supportedthereon, adjustable means for varying the extent of wrap of said clotharound said back-up roll, and tensioning means associated with said feedand take-up rolls and coacting with said adjustable means formaintaining said cloth under tension throughout the path of travelthereof.

4. Cloth texturing apparatus comprising feed and take-up rolls, gravitytensioning means associated with each of said rolls for tensioning clothtravelling therebetween, a back-up roll for supporting said clothintermediate said feed and take-up rolls and presenting a face thereoffor texturing, a texturing roll confronting said backup roll fortexturing said face of said cloth, a hood enclosing a portion of saidtexturing roll, means for injecting air into said hood for cooling saidtexturing roll, suction means for applying suction to said hood andremoving said air therefrom, and adjustable means for varying the extentof wrap of said cloth about said back-up roll, said adjustable meanscoacting with said gravity means for maintaining said cloth undertension throughout the path of travel thereof.

5. Cloth texturing apparatus comprising feed and take-up rolls, gravitytensioning means associated with each of said rolls for tensioning clothtravelling therebetween, a back-up roll for supporting said clothintermediate said feed and take-up rolls and presenting the face thereoffor texturing, a texturing roll confronting said backup roll fortexturing cloth in a texturing zone therebetween, jet means disposed onopposite sides of said zone for applying compressed air to saidtexturing roll, a suction hood enclosing a portion of said texturin rolland certain of said jet means, and adjustable means for varying theextent of wrap of said cloth about said back-up roll, said adjustablemeans coacting with said gravity means for maintaining said cloth undertension throughout the path of travel thereof.

6. Cloth texturing apparatus comprising a feed roll, means for drivingsaid feed roll at a constant peripheral speed, brake means associatedwith said feed roll for tensioning cloth fed therefrom, a back-up rolladapted to support and be partially encircled by cloth from said feedroll, a texturing roll confronting said back-up roll and acting on saidcloth in the direction of travel thereof, said texturing roll rotatingat a higher speed than said back-up roll and having an abrasiveimpregnated surface less adherent to said cloth than the surface of saidback-up roll, and adjustable means for controlling the extent of wrap ofsaid cloth about said back-up roll, said wrap coacting with said brakemeans for opposing pull exerted on said cloth by said texturing roll andpresentin said cloth to said texturing roll inunwrinkled form.

'7. Cloth texturing apparatus comprising a feed roll, brake meansassociated with said feed roll for tensioning cloth fed therefrom, aback-up roll having a relatively soft peripheral surface, said back-uproll supporting and being partially encircled by cloth fed thereto fromsaid feed roll, a texturing roll confronting said back-up roll andhaving a relatively hard abrasive impregnated surface for texturingcloth supported on said back-up roll, and an adjustable control rollinterposed between said feed and back-up rolls for varying the extent ofwrap of said cloth about said back-up roll.

8. Cloth texturing apparatus comprising a feed roll, brake meansassociated with said feed roll for tensioning cloth fed therefrom, aback-up roll having a relatively soft peripheral surface, said back-upr011 supporting and being partially encircled by cloth fed thereto fromsaid feed roll, a texturing roll confronting said back-up roll andhaving a relatively hard abrasive impregnated surface for texturingcloth supported on said back-up roll, and an adjustable control rollinterposed between said feed and back-up rolls 8 for varying the extentof Wrap of said cloth about said back-up roll between 200 and 270 of thecircumference of said back-up roll.

9. Cloth texturing apparatus comprising a feed roll, brake meansassociated with said feed roll for tensioning cloth fed therefrom, aback-up roll having a relatively soft rubber peripheral surface, saidback-up roll supporting and being partially encircled by cloth fedthereto from said feed roll, a texturing r011 confronting said backuproll and having a relatively hard abrasive impregnated rubber surfacefor texturing cloth supported on said back-up roll, said texturingsurface having less adherence to said cloth than said peripheralsurface, and an adjustable control roll interposed between said feed andback-up rolls for varying the extent of wrap of said cloth about saidback-up roll.

10. Cloth texturing apparatus comprising a feed roll, a back-up roll forsupporting cloth fed thereto from said feed roll, said back-up rollhaving a realtively soft rubber peripheral layer, a texturing rollconfronting said back-up roll having a relatively hard rubber peripherallayer homogeneously impregnated with abrasive for texturing clothsupported on said back-up roll in a texturing zone therebetween, aplurality of jets positioned on opposite sides of said texturing zonefor applying compressed air to and cooling said texturing roll, and asuction hood enclosing a portion of the periphery of said texturing rolland certain of said jet means.

11. Cloth texturing apparatus comprising a feed roll, a back-up roll forsupporting cloth fed thereto from said feed roll, said back-up rollhaving a relatively soft rubber peripheral layer, a texturing rollconfronting said back-up roll having a relatively hard rubber peripherallayer homogeneously impregnated with abrasive for texturing clothsupported on said back-up roll in a texturin zone therebetween, aplurality of jet means for applying compressed air to said roll,deflector means positioned between each of said jet means and thetexturing roll for diffusing said air before contact thereof with saidtexturing roll, and a suction hood enclosing a portion of the peripheryof said texturing roll and certain of said jet means.

12. Cloth texturing apparatus comprising a feed roll, a back-up roll forsupporting cloth fed thereto from said feed roll, said back-up having arelatively soft rubber peripheral layer, a texturing roll confrontingsaid back-up roll for texturing cloth in a texturing zone therebetween,

a pair of jet means positioned on opposite sides of said treating zonefor directing compressed air against said texturing roll, said pairincluding therebetween beyond said zone at least 300 of thecircumference of said texturing roll, and a suction hood enclosing aportion of the periphcry of said texturing roll and certain of said jetmeans.

13. Cloth texturing apparatus comprising a feed roll, a back-up roll forsupporting cloth fed thereto from said feed roll, said back-up rollhaving a relatively soft rubber peripheral layer, a texturing rollconfronting said back-up roll for texturing cloth in a texturing zonetherebetween, and a pair of jet means positioned on opposite sides ofsaid treating zone for directing compressed air against said texturingroll, said pair including therebetween beyond said zone at least 300 ofthe circumference of said texturing roll.

14. In cloth texturing apparatus having a backup roll and a texturingroll having an abrasive 9 10 impregnated rubber texturing layer; thecombi- REFERENCES CITED nation of a hood enclosing a portion of the Thefollowing references are of record in the riphery of said texturingroll, and means for me of this patent:

I t gggigtirglglgas into said hood for cooling sai ex 5 UNITED STATESPATENTS 15. In cloth texturing apparatus having a back- Number Name Dateup roll and a texturing r011 having an abrasive 1,974,400 Knowland eta1. Sept. 18, 1934 impregnated rubber texturing layer; the combi-2,035,641 Dickie et a1. Mar. 31, 1936 nation of a suction hood enclosinga portion of 2,187,463 Mulholland Jan. 16, 1940 the periphery of saidtexturing roll, and means 10 2,253,559 Curtin Aug. 26, 1941 foradmitting gas under pressure into said hood for cooling said texturingr011 by expansion of said gas therewithin.

DAVID E. MULHOLLAND.

